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The Easter Rising told through unpublished documents

“It was a bit of a shock to hear that some of the Volunteers… were now “the dead”

Numerous messages arrived from the Central Police Telephone office regarding buildings occupied by the Volunteers; and shooting in various areas. A report came in about the shooting of Constable O’Brien, who tried to close the gate of the Upper Castle yard, and of the death of Seán Connolly in an attack on the Castle. Later a message came about the capture of the ‘Evening Mail’ office from the Irish Volunteers by British forces, which ended by saying: “they are now carrying out the dead”. It was a bit of a shock to hear that some of the Volunteers who had marched so often through the streets were now “the dead”, probably some of them under twenty years of age. It was a grim reminder that death was now in the midst of these cheerful young men. Once again, as in l642, 1798, 1803 and 1867, Irish forces failed to take Dublin Castle.